Russian Anti-Smoking Ad: ‘Don’t Be Like Obama’

An anti-smoking ad has appeared around Moscow showing U.S. President Barack Obama smoking a cigarette, with the caption “Don’t smoke — don’t be like Obama”.

“Smoking kills more people than Obama, although he kills a lot of people,” it adds.

The posters origins are unknown, but it was shared on Facebook by opposition MP Dmitry Gudkov who said it was “disgusting and embarrassing that this is appearing on the streets of the Russian capital”.

The Telegraphreports that the ad has no attribution, and no one has claimed responsibility for putting it up at bus stops across the city, but some are linking it to a series of YouTube videos called “Stop Obama” in which dozens of Russian students denounce the U.S. President, saying he “kills 875 people every week”.

Last week, pro-Putin youth posted another video addressed to the United Nations in which students from various Russian universities say Obama should be “punished for thousands of lost lives”, describing him as “one of the most important threats of our civilisation”.

It is not known whether they are linked to Russian youth movement Nashi, a radical pro-Putin group that claims a membership in the hundreds of thousands and organises social events and summer camps for supporters of the Russian President.

However, The Guardianreports one of the speakers in the UN video has been identified as the editor of a magazine put out by the youth wing of the ruling United Russia party.

Numerous unflattering depictions of the American President have appeared across Russia in recent months as tensions between the two countries intensifies, with accusations that he is a “killer” becoming increasingly popular.

Last month, a giant banner was hung from a residential building across the street from the U.S. embassy depicting Obama’s famous 2008 election poster, but with the word “hope” changed to “killer”.

A video was also broadcast from the sides of buildings in Moscow calling for him to be tried for war crimes at The Hague.

In December, a supermarket chain was forced to apologise after selling a chopping board depicting Obama as a chimpanzee.

Breitbart Londonreported yesterday on Russian footballer Dmitri Tarasov caused considerable anger in Turkey after revealing a pro-Putin t-shirt after a match. He defended the garment, saying he is “just a patriot of my country, and Putin is the president of our country,” but Turkish media called it a “provocation”, especially as tensions increase between the two nations.